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Saturday, November 30, 2013

GIN Council disclaimer now on GIN web site, but Fat Lady still not singing

I've got a neverending tale for you
It explains that sense of deja screw.
The old scams give way to the new
And that's my neverending tale of scams for you.
~CC (to the tune, of course, of
"Neverending Song of Love")

[NOTE: Updated content (to clarify a couple of points) appears in gold text below.
~CC, 1 December 2013]


I would have posted this yesterday, the moment everyone started buzzing about it on the Facebooks, but I had other Matters of Consequence to attend to, and frankly, it just didn't seem all that urgent. The buzz is that on the newly designed official web site of now-jailed serial scammer Kevin Trudeau's
Global Information Network (GIN), there's a new disclaimer. It's at the bottom of every page. And it sez:
According to the information gathered by the Receiver of The Global Information network, the entity referred to as the GIN Counsel does not exist and therefore any reference or endorsement of this entity by any of the Global Information Network’s previous trainers/hosts should not be interpreted as an endorsement, benefit or part of the training curriculum of the GIN organization. GIN’s Affiliate Program may also be referred to in past trainings or educational materials. GIN’s Affiliate Program officially ends on November 30, 2013.
Of course, some of us called that Brotherhood/GIN Council nonsense for what it was... oh, back in 2009. Just saying.

Notwithstanding the fact that the disclaimer used the wrong spelling for "Council" (unless they actually did mean that the GIN lawyers do not exist), this disclaimer has caused quite a stir in some circles. Actually, however, it should have come as no great surprise, in light of recent court docs, which I wrote about on this November 18 post, shared on the GIN Network Truth group on Facebook, and uploaded to Scribd. Here's a relevant passage:
11. Mindful of the Court’s direction in the Receivership Order that the Receiver may only continue and conduct the business of any of the Trudeau Entities to the extent it is possible to operate such business legally, the Receiver has continued to review the legality of such businesses and has commenced tailoring the Trudeau Entities’ operations accordingly. For example, the Receiver has begun the process of causing the Trudeau Entities to remove false and misleading claims from its websites. As reflected in its First Report, the Receiver is continuing to work on a marketing plan that can be operated lawfully. As provided by the Receivership Order, if the Receiver determines that a Trudeau Entity cannot be operated legally, the Receiver will promptly notify the Court and parties and seek the Court’s permission to terminate the entity’s respective operations.
~ From court document in Kevin Trudeau's civil case (Case: 1:03-cv-03904 Document #: 790 Filed: 11/15/13, Pages 4-5 of 11)
But... but... but... isn't that disclaimer worth something? Isn't it yet another indication that GIN is on its last legs? Actually, it could just as easily be seen as a sign that the receiver is still, even now, trying to keep GIN alive, despite the end of the Affiliate Program (the MLM portion of GIN). The receiver had been questioning the legality of that program for months, in light of the fact that a Level 1 GIN membership didn't seem to be a legit "product" to sell via an MLM. Even so, they're still trying to keep GIN "legal," and one of the ways they're doing that is to remove any web site copy that could be construed as misleading.

But... but... but... Didn't Kevin himself admit there was no GIN Council? After all, some are claiming that Trudeau said in open court months ago that there is no GIN Council.

All I've seen, however, are documents that strongly indicate that...duh... there is no GIN Council, no group of idealistic billionaires who had a new vision for humanity and who happily co-founded GIN along with Kevin Trudeau and then stayed on, somewhat behind the scenes but nevertheless somehow involved in the operations. To the contrary, these documents point to GIN being a carefully structured private piggy bank for Kevin Trudeau, one that he had hoped would be out of the FTC's reach. The documents include but are not limited to pre-GIN-launch correspondence between KT and his asset-planning attorney, Marc Lane, and they are pretty damning for several reasons. But I do not recall seeing any notice or reading on any of the currently available transcripts that Kevin actually said, in court, that there is no GIN Council.

A few months ago -- May 2, 2013 to be exact -- Abe Husein made a video in which he waved around court documents that, according to him, clearly stated there was no GIN Council. He also made a pretty big deal of it on Facebook.

But I downloaded and looked at all of those court docs myself, as well as relevant preceding and subsequent documents, and saw only the above-mentioned correspondence and other evidence -- not a full-blown courtroom confession from Katie that the GIN Council was a figment of his imagination.

It is true that one of the court documents to which Abe referred in that May video (and on his Facebook posts) says, "Trudeau admits that he founded the Global Information Network, and Trudeau serves as its chief spokesperson" (Document 658, filed on May 1, 2013, page 4 of 7). Although the case centered around Trudeau's infomercials for his weight loss book and was not specifically about GIN, GIN's ownership had become relevant to the case because the FTC and court were trying to determine the extent of Trudeau's assets. They were striving to disprove Trudeau's claim that he does not own GIN FDN (the Nevis company).

Following that statement about Trudeau's "admission," however, is a footnote indicator. The footnote (number 7) cites record support for the statement, and that support lies not in statements that Kevin made in court under oath, but in statements he made during various media appearances, e.g., a promotional video, a radio interview, and his "radio" show on KTRN (click to enlarge).




The footnote makes reference to some July 2012 court documents; relevant screen shots are here. Actually, if you look at the first bulleted item on page 11 of 22 (the first shot, below), the text implies that there is a GIN council of some sort.


It may seem that I am nitpicking, an offense of which I've been previously accused, since the bottom line is that there is so much evidence that Kevin did own and control GIN -- in all of its various incarnations -- that one would have to be in deep denial not to see it. In that regard, of course, Abe was and is correct, as are those of us who have been saying this since long before Abe even joined GIN: There is no "GIN Council," at least not in the form that most believers in the GIN Council apparently imagined it, thanks to Trudeau's misleading statements. (In fact Abe himself was very drawn to the idea of the GIN Council, as he told the ABC reporters on The Lookout earlier this year.)

However, to some remaining GIN members and KT defenders, there is an important distinction between statements made in promotional content and a statement made under oath in a court of law.

And for that matter, it's an important distinction to me as well. I believe that it is as crucial to clarify these small details as it is to have a solid grasp of the big picture, since, as they say, God (or the Devil, take your pick) is in the details. So the bottom line is that I have not seen evidence that Kevin stated under oath, in court, that the GIN Council does not exist. If it's there and I've merely overlooked it, please point it out to me so that in the interests of accuracy I can make a retraction.


Nor have I seen any report from the court appointed receiver, Robb Evans and Associates, that Kevin specifically told anyone from that firm that there is no GIN Council. Again, I may be wrong, and please point it out to me if I am so I can make a retraction, but I believe the receiver has simply inferred the non-existence of the GIN Council from all of the documents uncovered in the FTC investigation and in the receiver's own investigation, the latter of which began on August 7, 2013. Here is the link to the receiver's own web site, which has links to the relevant documents.

Granted, the court documents I have been able to see do not reveal everything that has been going on. And I have not seen complete transcripts of all of the hearings. But what I have seen does not indicate that Kevin himself has really and truly come clean about the tall tales he told to market GIN.


Of course the other part of that new GIN site disclaimer -- the fact that the affiliate (MLM) program in GIN ends... why, today!... is also significant. But that fact has been known for weeks now. And there are
some GIN members and KT fans who have big dreams of taking over GIN, keeping the "training" portion, and perhaps even revamping the MLM. They may very well have embarked on a fool's errand, but they will be heard in court. It's on the civil case docket now.

In any case, this seems clear: To many folks, the disclaimer on the GIN web site is no big deal, and for some it's just one more obstacle on their road to "reclaiming" GIN and making it bigger than ever. Besides, most of Kevin's fans and defenders -- and he still has many, whether some of his detractors want to admit it or not -- look at the receiver as "the enemy," an agent of the government and the courts that are striving so hard to silence the voice of the fans' First Amendment Stuporhero.

Some KT fans are saying that they never really believed the "GIN Council" was an official part of GIN anyway. They say that Kevin knows many influential elites who have given him advice over the years, behind the scenes. Some have even said that Katie himself has explained this. And then of course there are those who believe the Brotherhood story, and they say that of course these folks are going to keep their identities seekrit. That's the convenient thing about these types of tall tales -- there's enough wiggle room for all sorts of interpretations and rationalizations.

And then we need to consider the fact that not everyone joined GIN because of the Brotherhood tale or the GIN Council myth. Some actually joined in spite of these blatant fibs.

But the point is that the new disclaimer on the GIN site is simply not the bombshell that some are declaring it to be. And even though I believe the same thing I have been saying on this blog for four years -- that GIN is a scam and Kevin Trudeau is a serial scammer -- and even though GIN as a private piggy bank for Kevin Trudeau and a few of his cronies is definitely on its way out... the story is not yet over. People who want to believe will simply continue to believe. Kevin Trudeau may be incapacitated for now, but his legacy thrives, as some folks try to keep GIN alive and others simply move on to new scams. Whether they're MLMs, "secret" societies, LGATs, or some combination thereof, Scamworld is a busy, buzzing place -- and when one door closes, hundreds more open up.

This ain't no night at the opera, kids, and I have a feeling that when and if the Fat Lady does decide to grace us with a tune, she will be warbling something along the lines of those lyrics you see at the top of this post.

For truly, it is a neverending tale.


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Wednesday, November 27, 2013

The Martrydom of Saint Kevin

For over a week some of us have been laughing and shaking our heads over the missives that jailed serial scammer Kevin Trudeau is supposedly posting on his "official" Facebook page -- messages that gush on and on about what an amazingly wonderful experience it is for him to be in the slammer. In one of his latest missives we see that the hoosegow is kinda like being at an ashram or retreat. Writes Kevin the aspiring monk, from his cell on November 26, 2013 (psst! it's really just one (or more) of his minions writing this dreck):
For years I had wanted the opportunity to go to an "ashram" or monastery, or some kind of "retreat", where I could be alone and contemplate, think, reflect, meditate, exercise, and be totally removed from society. I am enjoying my time today doing just that! WOW! You do get in life what you ask for! I am so blessed and happy. Think of your life. You are in fact living the life you created. Make the most of it or change it and create the life you want. Remember, everyday you and you alone can make the decision to be happy and have a great day no matter what the circumstances appear. Life is truly exciting and wonderful!

Be careful what you wish for, Kev...

As of this moment, 834 people have "liked" this comment. Look, see for yourself.




I wonder how many people honestly believe Kevin is having a marvelous time behind bars. Kevin's brother Bob certainly has a different story to tell; on more than one occasion on Facebook he has talked about his brother's past incarceration experience, and how it almost destroyed their mother whenever the family went to visit Kevin in prison. I feel so bad for Kevin's parents, who definitely seem to be examples of collateral damage.

But never mind those dear old people; the spin must go on. And the martyr's legend is being kept alive on a page from which I have been blocked for some reason I haven't yet figured out: the GIN International Page. Fortunately a friend of mine can still get there, and that friend sent me some screen shots of a convo that took place last week, around the time that the jailhouse crock began.





This bit, from a commenter named Jean-Marc Jacot, is particularly amusing:

...the Feds are turning KT into a living Legend, the archetype of a Martyr fighting and thus persecuted for Truth and Justice, of the same dimension as Henry David Thoreau, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela!
Katie is going to have to fight a few other folks for fake-Gandhi rights. At any rate, as we know, Kevin has been grooming that martyr image for years, and now it's just a self-perpetuating motif that has taken on a life of its own.

Also noteworthy is that
Fred Van Liew, aka Fred van Loony, long time friend of Kevin Trudeau (and by the way, brother Bob shared on Facebook that their parents never liked Freddy) is doing his part to keep that martyr legend alive, and is striving to rally the troops for a "peaceful" war. Fred, as reported here recently, was at one point planning to go on that "alternative" GIN cruise that some of the minions are planning, but later backed out. It appears that these days, Freddy is kind of allying himself with some of the scavengers who want to wrest control of Trudeau's massive scam, the Global Information Network, or GIN, from the court-appointed receivers.

Apropos of that, I hadn't been to PACER in a few days but visited again yesterday and saw that a couple more docs were filed after my last visit on November 21. Two documents, Document 802 and 803, filed on November 21 and 22 respectively, indicate that the receiver is getting paid (per their request) and that the "Intervenors'" case, led by Ohio GIN member Perry Kiraly, is going to be heard.

I am actually surprised that the court didn't just throw out the whole motion to intervene, but the docs filed a few days ago seem to verify what Kiraly's
Stand With GIN updates are saying: the court has indeed approved the Shimko brothers to represent Perry Kiraly et al. (the "Intervenors"). Response to motion to intervene is due by December 20, reply to that response is due by January 7, and another status hearing is set for January 30. And as indicated above, the receiver's motion to approve fees was granted.

Whether or not the Shimkos were treated as respectfully by the court and the receiver as the Stand With GIN update indicates, I couldn't tell you. It's hard to tell what is really going on. Sometimes, as we know, attorneys put spins on things for their clients, and sometimes, as we also know, those clients spin things for their followers. All I have seen besides Kiraly's updates are the rudimentary court docs available on PACER. They are very neutral.

In any case it seems that the "Intervenors" are still holding out hope that if they cannot make a case for member ownership of GIN, they can get first dibs when and if it goes up for auction, but preferably they would like to make an arrangement to purchase it outright. To many of us this may seem patently absurd, and some of the "GIN Destroyer" contingent are guffawing about it on their Facebook forums, but in the right (or wrong, depending on your perspective) hands the intellectual property could theoretically be worth a pretty penny in Scamworld.

And it seems clear that Perry and gang have a "vision" for what GIN could be. This part caught my eye, though:

[Our vision is] of a club so in-ethics and in possession of that which enables one to makes their dreams come true, that those that find out about us will be knocking on our door at 6am to get you to sponsor them in.
"In-ethics" is a Scientology phrase. Just thought I would mention that. But it seems that Yon Vetter Cole, a long-winded fellow who is also in on the Intervenors case, is pretty deeply into Scientology, so maybe that explains some of the language. (Trudeau has promoted Scientology and Dianetics too.) Yon, who is into all kinds of New-Wagey things, and is the founder of the Your Wish Foundation (not to be confused with the Make A Wish Foundation) has lofty visions for GIN, as he shared in a protracted convo on the GIN International Facebook page on November 19, 2013:
Rarely have there been the spiritual giants who are called to serve millions in their lifetime. The love from source absolutely radiates through GIN, but what is coming in the future, the radiance and magnificence that are being prepared to emerge... are unlike anything the world has ever seen. The monetary platform in GIN brings in certain kinds of people, and the membership levels, especially 2-6, prepare their hearts to discover whole new dimensions of love. This combination and the scale of GIN's mission/vision are unlike anything this world has ever scene [sic] before.

Oh my goodness, I hear the heavenly harps playing now. I see the pure golden light emanating from Saint Kevin Mark Trudeau. Or maybe I am supposed to be seeing that golden stream coming from some of Kev's good and faithful serpents...I mean SERVANTS... who surely are spiritual giants in the making. Anyway, I am pretty sure I see something streaming from somewhere. And lo, my heart is full, and I am at peace.

But anyway. I am no legal expert, as may be obvious. But after going through hundreds of pages of legal documents I do not think the Intervenors have a legitimate case regarding the ownership of GIN. It seems so obvious that despite the convoluted structure -- deliberately set up by Trudeau and Marc Lane years ago --  it is a Kevin Trudeau asset..

However, the receiver and the court could possibly decide that despite any huge earnings in the past, GIN will never be a viable source of funds to pay towards Kevin's humongous FTC fine -- and they may decide to sell the rights (i.e., the intellectual property, including the name) to the Intervenors or some other group of scavengers, just to get it out of their hair.

So it is possible that GIN may live on under the auspices of
lesser crooks and maybe a Scientologist or two. And if they happen to be Katie fans they can keep his legacy alive -- yes, even if he stays in the joint... er... ashram -- as a martyr who is rockin' the orange on behalf of freedom and justice for all.

PS ~ Saint Kevin is not the first martyr to appear on this Whirled. Anyone remember Aussie investment "expert" David Schirmer, the "car park, cheque's in the mail" guy in The Secret? He earned his sainthood by being exposed on an Aussie TV show as a scammer. He even likened himself to Saint Stephen. Eventually he got banned for life from working in theinvestment industry in Oz. Actually, come to think of it, just about every New-Wage sociopath I've covered here has at some point played the martyr card. That's always Plan B, when trouble knocks on the door, as it almost invariably does.

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Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Meet the new James. Same as the old James.

As reported here yesterday, star of The Secret and convicted negligent homicider James Arthur Ray is on the comeback trail, and on Monday night, November 25, he made his first talk show appearance since his release from prison in July -- or as he euphemistically put it, his "re-emergence" from Arizona, and his return to his home in California, where he can once again see and feel the ocean, and spend time with his loved ones, far away from the filthy, disease-ridden conditions he had been forced to endure for nearly two years. He appeared on a live interview on the Piers Morgan show on CNN. His handlers had apparently negotiated the terms of the interview, and although Ginny Brown, mother of sweat lodge victim Kirby Brown (and founder of SEEKsafely.org) had requested to be on the show with Ray, she was rebuffed. Ray said he would not do the interview unless he were allowed to take up the entire hour. 

The fact that Piers Morgan is managed by Octagon Entertainment Management's Managing Director, John Ferriter -- who also happened to be one of the witnesses for Ray during the latter's pre-sentencing mitigation hearing in September 2011 -- may have had something to do with those easy-for-Ray terms. Ray and Ferriter had a working relationship in the past and hey, they're back together again. Cozy, huh? [See the PS below.]

And so the interview went, with Ray reportedly playing every sympathy card he could, including getting weepy about his mom's cancer. (I was not able to watch the interview but I have seen reports from people who did.) Many people, including some who had suffered direct physical or emotional damage because of Ray's recklessness, were disgusted that Piers did not play hardball and that he and CNN provided this platform for Ray.
Here is a link to the page on the CNN site. There is a blog post summarizing the review, and there are currently links to several short video snippets. If I can get a link to a video of the entire interview, or to a transcript, I will add those as well.

Some were truly distressed to see that, despite previous faint glimmers of hope that the trial, conviction, and all-too-brief but nonetheless grueling prison sentence had changed Ray in some significant way, the Piers Morgan interview seemed to indicate that here he was again, the same old James -- with a false-humility persona to boot. He nearly cried a few times, but some noted that they had seen him cry on cue before.


It's somewhat encouraging to see the outpouring of critical responses on the Piers Morgan Live Facebook page in the wake of this interview, but that doesn't mean we should count Ray out at this point. I'll explain why. For some of you, this may be another one of my overstatements of the obvious, but I am banking on the possibility that it isn't so obvious to everyone. So here goes (and I apologize to those of you who have already read most of this rant from me on Facebook).

Some people have suggested that James Arthur Ray has been irreversibly tainted by his conviction and incarceration, and that he will again never be able to rise to his previous lofty status in Scamworld. Some have speculated that even if he does manage to get a sizable following, he will never again attract the premium quality of followers he had before the trouble began. They seem to be saying that that ship has sailed, and that the type of people James really wants or needs in his flock are now immune to his charms. Some even insinuated that his current fans and followers are of a lower caliber than those former fans whose eyes are now wide open.

I think it would be folly to take any of the above as a given -- particularly the statements that seem to pit former but now awakened fans against current unawakened ones (although this us-against-them mindset actually seems to be fairly common among some ex-followers of charismatic gurus).

I believe it is a mistake to underestimate the ability of any skilled sociopathic "guru" to seek and find new waves of followers. As I've said numerous times on this blog and other forums, the public has a short memory. Moreover, those of us who don't have short memories need to keep in mind that the majority of people either don't know about the sweat lodge tragedy at all, or for one reason or another they do not think it was a big deal, in the larger scheme of things.

I know it may be immensely difficult for anyone who has been following this saga closely to accept that, but to the "average" person this case was barely a blip on the radar.

It is possible that many potential new Ray customers, not knowing the entire context and the arc of Ray's career -- and not really caring to do the research -- will look at the incident as a tragedy, an aberration... but not directly relevant to THEM.

And there are vast potential markets in other parts of the world where, despite the Internet and global media, the Sedona tragedy may barely register at all.

Whether one deems all of those potential followers "quality" or not, I think it's a pretty certain bet that if they have money, James Arthur Ray will gladly take it, and if he is true to form he will happily take their adulation and their trust as well.

People are meat and the big sick machine is always ravenous.

And here I feel compelled to return to an all too familiar theme on this Whirled. We have only to look at the example of
infomercial huckster and serial scammer Kevin Trudeau, who for many years was exceedingly well known, at least in the US, as a con man. He was laughed at, scorned, spoofed by many. (As I've mentioned a couple dozen times, Trudeau publicly defended Ray a couple of years ago, and Ray returned the favor by pushing GIN from prison. Again... cozy, huh?) Trudeau was even a convicted felon who had done a couple of years in a Federal prison. Of course he had many followers too, because he's charming that way, but the negative information about him was freely and easily available on the Internet.

You would think that "quality" people would therefore not be attracted to what has been arguably his biggest scheme of all --
the Ponzi-like Global Information Network, or GIN, which came along in 2009. You would think that "quality" people would see right through his tall tales about having been a long-time member of a secret organization called The Brotherhood, where, he claimed, he learned the secrets he was selling in GIN.

You would think that "quality" folks would scoff at his claim that even though he had ditched the Brotherhood, at great personal risk to himself, he was still being clandestinely advised by a group of ultra-elites (royalty, Bilderberg members and the like), whom he referred to as the GIN Council, and in whose stellar company he insinuated GIN members might someday find themselves too, if they played their cards right.

You would think that "quality" people who were even remotely tempted to join GIN would examine Trudeau's history of scams and frauduct peddling and endless lawsuits and business failures. You'd think that after doing their due diligence, they would laugh uproariously at his promises that he could make them rich and happy if they would just join GIN, and either upgrade their membership as quickly and as often as possible, or participate in the affiliate (MLM) program, or -- preferably -- both.

You would think that "quality" people would just say, "Thanks, Kev, but no thanks."

And you would, of course, be dead wrong. It is true that GIN attracted probably more than the average Scamworld share of greedy people, selfish people, damaged people, desperate people, and some who were a tad deficient in either education or intellectual abilities. I won't mention any names. Even so, many educated, affluent people also joined -- and again, I won't mention any names -- and many apparently joined for more lofty reasons than the greed to which Trudeau was so obviously pandering. Some spent $200,000 or more to be part of GIN and to be in KT's inner circle. (That may sound uncomfortably familiar to some who paid six figures to be part of James Arthur Ray's inner circle.)

As many know, Trudeau is currently in jail on contempt charges, and is facing a possible life sentence (even though he didn't kill anyone -- but Federal offenses carry their own punishment guidelines, while James Ray was tried and convicted as an offender against the State of Arizona). After less than four years in existence, GIN is falling apart as more people come to realize it is...duh... a scam. In August 2013, a court-appointed receiver seized control of GIN and KT's other assets, and the affiliate (MLM) portion of GIN is dead for now, provided that the court follows the receiver's recommendations. 
GIN, if not completely dead yet, seems moribund in its current form, though even now several factions are working to save and resurrect it (here's a link to one group). That story isn't over yet.

But despite the fact that Kevin Trudeau has -- yes, once again -- been revealed as a fraudster, he still has legions of fans who think he hung the moon and who believe his spin that he is being oppressed by the government. And his being behind bars has only strengthened the fans' love, loyalty, and resolve. (By the way, here's a November 26, 2013 dispatch from da joint, courtesy of some silly Trudeau minion who is still trying to convince Kevin's fans that all is well with him. Click on pic to enlarge.)


My point is that Scamworld is a big place, and the creative, skillful sociopath will almost always find a way to attract new followers. In the end, the caliber of followers a given guru attracts doesn't matter, if the guru is skillful enough at targeting markets. After all, a bank account does not care if it is replenished via "quality" or quantity.

So, while I think we should all be encouraged by the strong critical voices against the Scumback Kid, James Arthur Ray, I also think we need to avoid complacency, and we need to remember that the new mask of humility and "remorse" Ray is wearing is just that: a mask.

PS added 27 November: It's even worse than you thought. Here's my pal Salty Droid, with a lot more about the cynical PR campaign behind that travesty of an "interview." 


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Monday, November 25, 2013

A brand new day for James Arthur Ray?

File this in the "no neat and tidy endings in Scamworld" category. Convicted killer and star of The Secret James Arthur Ray is on the comeback trail, and he is ever so grateful to be healthy. Look, it says so right here, on James' brand new blog. In that post, Ray also talks about "The Law of Polarity," which appears to be a convenient, phony quantum-physics inflected adjunct to the Law of Attraction crap he preached for so many years, and which he seems to be implying is the Law that actually landed him in prison despite his being such a stellar LOA practitioner.

Be sure to read the comments to that post. You will see how quick New-Wage ninnies are to forget and move on, particularly, one suspects, when there might be a new scam op in it for them somewhere. For instance, someone using the obviously fake name Shakti writes:
I’ve been waiting 4 long years for this moment.
Thank you, Universe!

Welcome back, James!!!
Given all of this, it appears that even if he has to stay in a cage for a few years himself, serial scammer Kevin Trudeau (who publicly defended Ray a couple of years ago, and Ray returned the favor by shilling for GIN from prison) has little to worry about, career-wise. He can leverage his time in the clink the way Ray has. In fact Katie, or rather some of his minions, already got a head start on that very task.

And depending upon how successful he is with his own comeback experiment, maybe Death Ray can give Katie a few comeback pointers when the time comes. On November 23, the day after his birthday, Ray sent this message out to followers.

I know it's been quite a while since you heard from me, and I just want to begin by expressing my sincere thanks for staying with me over the last 4 years. For the last 4 months since my re-emergence I've been catching my breath and doing my best to rest, spend time with my family, and integrate the experiences of the last 4 years. Frankly understanding and integration will probably take the rest of my days.

After my birthday yesterday, it seemed the perfect time to begin a new chapter in my life; and continue to find ways in which I can be of service, given all that I've learned and experienced.

I've posted my first blog today and I plan on many more to come. If you'll take a moment and read it when you have a chance, my sincere hope and prayer is that it will be of value to you and your current situation in life.

Again thank you from the bottom of my heart for your continued love and support, and I look forward to connecting again soon.
Much love and gratitude,
James
"Re-emergence," eh? So that's what the kids are calling "release from prison" these days.

Ray's web site is also up and running again, replete with music and videos from The Secret's heyday, and images of a smiling, triumphant JAR.

And
his Facebook page sports his beaming mug, and bears a steaming pile of gushy remarks from fans.


This post is from November 24 (click on pic to enlarge):



It seems that all is well again in Death Ray Valley. So party on, Ray fans, just like you did after Colleen Conaway died, even though some of you knew about her death (and tried to cover it up). Party on, the way your fearless leader was trying to make some of you do to the tune of "I Got a Feeling (That Tonight's Gonna Be A Good Night)" a mere nine days after Death Lodge, while Liz Neuman's family was making the wrenching decision to pull her off of life support.

Fans are one thing. But perhaps the true litmus test for Ray's Scamworld comeback will lie in whether or not the active selfish-help players -- those who have in the past proudly claimed Ray as a "good friend" -- accept him back into the magickal circle jerk. Joe Vitale is one obvious example, since he and Ray were both in The Secret (
here's a Joe post from the days just before The Secret was launched). In fact, their "starring" together in the world's most suck-cessful New-Wage moviemercial seemed to be the basis of their "friendship." The two also appeared on the Larry King show together in happier days, babbling about The Secret and the Law of Attraction. Here is the transcript of that November 2006 show. (A few years later, ABC featured Joe as a sideshow to the death lodge story. (This was the main story.) Those weren't such happy days for Joe.) And in the past, Joe described Ray as a friend a few times on his own blog, though most of those references seem to now be wiped clean. Joe even sort-of defended Ray immediately after the death lodge happened.

But will Joe reach his hand out to Ray and welcome him back onto the active Scamworld roster? Time will tell. (In the meantime, don't forget that Joe is making
a celebrity guest appearance on the telephone on Tuesday, November 26, 2013, courtesy of Peter Wink and the IMBS-ing U Master Baiter's Society.)

Will other scammers let Ray back into the pack? Will he even be welcomed back into the
Trained Liars Cartel... I mean, the Transformational Leadership Council? Again, time will tell.

UPDATE... 3 DEC 2013: I don't know how I missed this post from this past August, but... jeez. Didn't I say something about IBMS and Ray on this post from this past February?


While Ray natters on (or his social media handlers natter on his behalf) about being grateful for being healthy and having learned life's toughest lessons and whatnot -- and as his joyful followers take up the torch for him again -- the three people he killed through his recklessness in his phony Sedona sweat lodge (though he was only convicted of and sentenced for negligence) are...yep...still dead. Those three are Kirby Brown, James Shore, and Liz Neuman. Ray served less than two years in prison for their deaths. And he has not even answered for
Colleen Conaway, another person who died at one of his previous events.

In the blog post pictured and linked to above, Ray waxes rhapsodic about the things he missed so much while locked away: the sight and smell of the ocean, the opportunity to spend time with family and loved ones. He basks in the joy of a second chance. Kirby Brown loved the ocean too, and she enjoyed spending time with loved ones. James Shore and Liz Neuman loved their lives too, and they loved their families and friends. James Shore had a wife and young children; Liz had her grown kids, and now there's an adorable grandchild she never got to hold. Colleen Conaway had her life and she had people who loved her.

Where's their second chance, Ray?


As mentioned in the PS to this Whirled blog post the other day, Death Ray will be appearing on CNN tonight (Monday 25 November) at 9:00 PM EST, 8:00 CST, 6:00 PST, in an interview with Piers Morgan. One can only hope that Piers will nail him to the wall. Or as Liz Neuman's son Bryan wrote on former James Ray follower Connie Joy's Tragedy In Sedona Facebook page...

If you haven't done so already, check out the organization started by sweat lodge victim Kirby Brown's family,
SEEKsafely, Inc. Kirby's mother Ginny sees a lot of value in the self-help industry but she is trying, in her gentle way, to persuade the industry to reform itself. I admire her resolve but fear she may be fighting a losing battle. Be sure to take a look at the list of New-Wage/McSpirituality gurus who have been contacted by the organization but have not yet signed the safety pledge (and probably never will). Also see the screen shot of SeekSafely's press release -- it's at the end of this post.

By the way, according to information on the Tragedy In Sedona Facebook page, SEEKsafely asked to be on the Piers Morgan show along with James Ray, but was told no because Ray would not appear if he weren't the only guest during the hour. His handlers -- yes, apparently he can afford handlers -- negotiated those conditions.


And for more information about James Ray from a former insider's point of view, read Connie Joy's book, Tragedy in Sedona. If you want a preview and some Cosmic commentary, I wrote a lengthy piece about that book here.
 

It seems clear that Ray is going to get a lot of mileage out of his suffering in prison. It was inevitable. Many of us predicted this very thing. I don't doubt that his time in a cage was a jarring experience for Ray, but I have to wonder if that suffering really washed him clean and gave him the terrible but beautiful gift of a conscience. 


I feel that the best we can do, as outside observers, is to never forget. Unless we lost a loved one through Ray's negligence or were personally harmed in some way by him, I don't think it is our place to "forgive" him -- but we can do our part to make sure no one ever forgets what James Arthur Ray has done, and who he really is.*
* Connie Joy suggests that during the Piers Morgan interview, people use the power of Twitter by tweeting with #Seeksafely, #Piersmorgan and #tragedyinsedona. Direct viewers to SEEKsafely.org and tragedyinsedona.com.

The SeekSafely press release regarding James A. Ray
11-25-13. Click to enlarge.

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Sunday, November 24, 2013

GIN is not at all a well scam, so Janine recruits for new scams, while IMBS-ing U hosts Your Magnificent Breakdown



Serial scammer Kevin Trudeau's big scheme GIN, the Global Information Network, may not be dead yet, but to slightly misquote the old Monty Python sketch about burying the cat (you can watch it above), it's not at all a well scam. But no worries. There are plenty of other flopportunities in Scamworld.

For instance, Kevin's loyal longtime friend, business partner,
fellow co-defendant and ex-girlfriend Janine Nubani Contursi is now beating the bushes for more money ops. Janine did all she could to help Kevin, one of her most recent feats being an attempt to funnel loyalists into Kevin's last fundraising party in October, but he still ended up convicted, and in jail for the time being. Janine is now rumored to be involved with writing phony all's-well-with-Kevein-in-the-clink dispatches on Facebook, but she has to look out for herself and her faux-family too. After all, the court-appointed receiver fired her from GIN fairly recently, so what's a girl to do?

Well, if you're Janine, you send out an email like this one, which was blasted out this past Friday to the loyals:

From: Janine Nubani Contursi [email address redacted; I do have some sense of decency ~CC]
Date: Fri, Nov 22, 2013
Subject: Hello!
To:

The reason I am writing you is to first and foremost thank you for the great times we had together in GIN the past few years. Those are times and memories that I will treasure always. I thank you immensely for that.

Since losing my job it has given me much time to reflect on the experience we shared the past few years and I have come to the conclusion that I would very much like it to continue. The experience wasn’t just a job it became a family and I would like to keep the family together. But at the same time I also need to earn an income and with the recent announcement about the affiliate program many others do as well.

These are the questions I have been asking of myself and the people I know. Most of all I would like to have an opportunity that together, we can start at the top, be paid for who we are, who we know, and what we have done in the past. If only that could happen. Well I am fortunate to know someone who has done this before. So I went to Kevin and with his guidance, I have found the answer to these questions and I would like to share it with you. This Saturday (the 23rd) at 7:00 PM Central Standard Time, I will be hosting a conference call to go over what Kevin has strongly suggested that I do to accomplish this. I would like to invite you to be on this call.

Being that this is a personal and private call, please RSVP by email as soon as possible and I will forward you the call details. Please respect the private nature of this call.

Kevin suggested that “to start, I first only share this with the top few people I know”. So this call is not open to the public, it is a private invitation for you to listen to the plan we have to keep our family together.

I appreciate your friendship,

Janine Nubani

P.S. Please email back to RSVP and receive the call in details.

P.S.S Please keep this confidential - Thank you!
November 23 has come and gone so I figure it's okay to break the confidence. Word has it that sweet Janine is into the new-ish MLM scam Venom... I mean VEMMA, and is desperately trying to get a downline. I'm not 100 percent certain that Vemma is her scheme du jour, but it wouldn't surprise me, because Vemma seems to be all the rage these days.

And if she is pushing Vemma, she's certainly not the only one. Other ex-GIN are peddling the Vemma Kool-Aid too -- such as "Water Doctor" and E-Pendant frauduct peddler
Fred Van Liew, whose name is mentioned on this site among others. And Brian Baschnagel, who made more money in GIN commissions than anyone else besides Kevin, Kevin's wife, and Neo-stinker Mark Hamilton, is reportedly on the Vemma bandwagon as well. Gotta do something when the GIN commission checks stop coming in. Gotta milk that fake "family" cash cow for all it's worth. It's the MLM way, after all.

[Addendum, 28 November:] And it seems that Chris McGarahan, the Voldemort lookalike who has been one of the chief perpetrators of Katie's big sick machine, is also in on it. This screen shot is from November 27, 2013:


Chris is an MLM pimp from way back, and he isn't about to let the grass grow under his feet.

You can read all about Vemma on
Salty Droid and Glancingweb. Vemma is gaining some notoriety for targeting younger folks, including the under-aged.

Of course none of this comes as any surprise. Scammers and their enablers just gotta scam and enable, because that is all they know how to do. And they will continue to scam and enable even if GIN goes away totally and Katie stays in the cage till Kingdom Come (though we still don't even know if either of those things will happen).

As for Janine, it sounds credible that she would be talking to Trudeau if she is allowed to have any communication with him whatsoever. And who better to get others firmly on the road to serial scamming than the king of serial scams himself, Kevin Mark Trudeau?

See, that's what I mean by "no neat and tidy endings." You knew I was going to bring that up again, didn't you?

Another Deutschland dispatch from the fake GIN Council

Speaking of scammers and their enablers, Petard Winkwell, aka ex-KT b.f.f. Loony Lenny Coldwell and ex-GIN marketing head Peter Wink, have once again sent an email from a German proxy, pretending to be from the "GIN Council." Once again this is targeted to the remaining GIN members as well as to shell-shocked ex-GIN. It's exploitation at its crassest. I hope that you will pardon me for interjecting a few comments and links.


From: gincouncil@newbigjob.de
To:
Sent: 11/23/2013 7:16:50 P.M. Central Standard Time

Subj: Kevin Trudeau in Jail for many years! Gin will be closed starting January 1st 2014! You lost it all but we want to help you: A special invitation for all past and present GIN Members
A special invitation for all past and present GIN Members and Affiliates and other friends...

Dear Past and Present GIN Members/Affiliates and Other Friends,

You are formally invited to take part in a major event featuring Dr. C called...

YOUR MAGNIFICENT BREAKTHROUGH!   

Learn more at...
[link redacted, but it's on the IMBS-ing U Master Baiter's Society web site ~CC]

Your Magnificent Breakthrough is a unique event as it covers natural health, relationships, self defense, speed reading/comprehension, goal setting, big thinking, and even how to set up multiple streams of income.

For now, we want to share a few highlights about the presenters.

Dr. Leonard Coldwell is considered one of the world’s leading authorities on natural alternatives to drugs and surgery for eradicating any disease and illness --- as well as the bestselling author of The Only Answer to Cancer, The Only Answer to Success, and The Only Answer to Stress, Anxiety and Depression.  He will share little known natural health alternatives to drugs and surgery.  
[Yes, Loony Coldwell is the bastion of credibility, what with his phony credentials, mysterious past in Germany, dodgy business practices, and so forth -- as discussed
here and here and here and here, among other places. ~CC.]

(You may remember that he was the heart and soul of the GIN organization and the standout top attraction at all major GIN  events.)  
[Or so sez Loony himelf.
"Heart" and "soul" are not the first things that come to mind when one thinks of Loony. On the other hand, since GIN was such an obvious scam, being the heart and the soul of such a thing is not exactly something an ethical person would want to put on the ol' resume. ~CC]               

Howard Stephen Berg is a multi-millionaire, celebrity genius.  He’s the Guinness Book of World Records World’s Fastest Reader and a bona fide genius in every aspect of the word.  Howard is also the author of Mega Speed Reading, SuperSonic Writing, SuperSonic Speed Reading, SuperSonic Memory, and SuperSonic Math.  He will be teaching you how to double or triple your reading speed and comprehension.  Bring your teens!
[Teens! Nein, that would be the worst thing you could do. At the very least, if you have an attractive teenage daughter
keep her away from Loony Coldwell. As for Howard Berg... well, his inclusion in the IMBS-ing U curriculum may be another case of "turds of a feather."]     

Peter Wink is the host of the Masters of Action Interview Show and President of WinkPromotions.com, a direct marketing consulting company.  He is also the author of the book and audio programs Negotiate Your Way to Riches and Buying Secrets Retailers Don’t Want You to Know About.  He’s going to teach you all about big thinking and how to translate that into attaining big goals quickly. 
[Being
a stunning example of goal achievement himself. ~CC]

Amy Chappell is the COO of Dr. Leonard Coldwell, Int’l and a leading relationship expert. She is going to teach you how to evaluate all the people in your life and how to successfully conduct ongoing personal and business relationships, as well as eradicate destructive relationships.
[Yeah,
THIS is your "leading relationship expert" -- a profoundly dysfunctional twentysomething beauty-school grad who ran away from home, hates her parents, and thinks Loony Coldwell hung the moon. Watch that vid, shot at a Loony "Boot Camp" in Charlatan, SC last year, and you will know everything Amy has to say about relationships.~CC]    

Oz Shafer is a former IRS Agent and owns Brain Saver Testing, a private organization conducting brain tests on severely injured patients.  He will teach you all about the IRS and how to get extra tax breaks by owning a business of your own.
[I wonder if he will tell you that
you really don't have to pay Federal income taxes... like Loony has advised. ~CC]

Will Pelton will teach you basic techniques for defending yourself, as well as how to strengthen your self-esteem and self-confidence.  Will is also going to demonstrate special self-defense techniques for women.  You will love him.
[Maybe he will teach women how to defend themselves against Loony. ~CC]  

HOW TO REGISTER...

The event will be taking place on December 6th and 7th at the 5-star---

Wyndham Bay Point Resort
4114 Jan Cooley Drive
Panama City Beach, FL 32408
1-850-236-6000

Friday, December 6th, 2013 (6pm-9pm)
Saturday, December 7th, 2013 (9am-5pm)

Here is the IBMS “Your Magnificent Breakthrough” public seminar event registration link (Friday, December 6th and Saturday, December 7th)...
[registration link redacted ~CC]

Register soon as we have limited seating!  This is a first-come, first served event.  Don’t wait --- REGISTER TODAY or we may completely hit capacity.         

Come join the celebration!

Learn more at...
[link redacted ~CC]

And register at...
[link redacted ~CC]

Come back home and re-experience Dr C!

We look forward to seeing you in December!      

Sincerely,
Mecca Events

PS:  This is the event of events for networking.  You can interact with me and the guest speakers like never before.  Lives will be changed.  Fears will be conquered.  Baggage will be lost forever.  People will come together.  Relationships will develop.  Huge laughs will be shared.  Fortunes will begin.  Tough questions will be answered.  Breakthroughs will happen.  And much more!  Register right now before it fills up.



So how's that for blatant, disgusting opportunism? (By the way, I doubt that it will even come close to filling up, seeing as how Abe Husein has thrown it open to be a free event (scroll down to, "Still more legal threats from Loony").

Ya know, this email kind of sounds like they'll take any and everybody, doesn't it? Yet in recent Facebook posts Loony C himself has been saying that IBMS Master's Society scam does not want current high-level GIN members or anyone else who is still defending GIN and Katie, because those people are obviously mentally ill or in some other way inferior specimens, and IMBS-ing U only wants those who are worthy of being part of the Master Race. Well, something like that. But we know that is utter crap. You know and I know that Loony and Peter will grab on to anything that is offered to them that even remotely resembles real money.

Whether it's
IMBS-ing U... Empower Network and its evil spawn Blog Beast... Vemma... or any number of other "exclusive" clubs or too-good-to-be true ops... the scammers scam on. Kevin Trudeau, you've only been wearing the orange for a couple of weeks now, but your legacy is alive and well. You should be proud, Katie. Mighty proud indeed.

PS ~ Here's Bernie on the feeding frenzy that GIN has become.


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Now more than ever, your donation is needed
to help keep this Whirled spinning.
Click here to donate via PayPal or debit/credit card.
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If PayPal, be sure to specify that your contribution is a gift. Thank you!

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Katie's in a cage, but Scamworld hums on

 
Will the circle jerk be unbroken
Buy and buy, Lord, buy and buy
“I got rich and you can too, dude!”
Is a lie, Lord, it’s a lie.

~ Cosmic Connie, in a comment to a July 2010 Salty Droid post

If you've been hanging around this Whirled for any length of time, and/or have endured my endless yammering on various Facebook groups and other forums, you probably know that my favorite mantra, "No neat and tidy endings" refers to much, much more than the long and seemingly endless saga of serial scammer Kevin Trudeau, who has been an all-too-frequent topic on this blog of late. Every day I see new (and old) evidence that my mantra is, despite its tiresomeness, spot-on. To me it is pretty clear that even if Katie were to be locked away in the slammer for life, and even if what is arguably his biggest scheme of all, the Global Information Network (GIN) were to be totally shut down or rebranded into another branded scam, Scamworld would still go on without missing a beat.

It's really a no-brainer analysis, based upon the sad fact that there are just too many scam ops out there, and neither the scammers nor the scammees can resist a good op. Or they can't resist what looks like a good op, and it is that "looks like" factor that keeps on feeding the big sick machine.

Why, GIN alone has already spurred a flurry of spin-off scams from ex-GIN/ex-KT pals, such as
the IBMS Master's Society scam... not to mention the fact that many of the departing GIN/KT beneficiaries are busily flogging other folks' scams. It's a regular scavenger orgy, not to mention a pimp-n-ho fest.

And speaking of pimps, Peter Wink -- one of the Supreme Founders of the IMBS-ing U Master Baiter's Society scam, former employee of Kevin Trudeau, and now crusader for justice (or crusader for "just-us Scamworld flopportunists") -- is finally going to parade another one of his ex-tarts, Joe "Mr. Fire" Vitale, before the IMBS-ing U membership. It all happens on the phone this Tuesday, November 26, and it's freeeee! And by that I mean that it is freeeee in the way that sleazy lead-gen/promo gimmicks are always freeeee. Here's the invitation, big as life on the IBMS Master's Society Facebook page (I am forbidden from commenting on that page, but maybe you can, if you're so moved). As usual, click on pics to enlarge.



My only question is: What took Peter so long? Did it take IBMS that long to save up enough dollars from their paltry membership fee base to pay Joe, who never actually does anything for free? Or did it just take Peter that long to talk Joe into thinking that there might possibly be some benefit for Joe in this whole thing? Or was Joe just too busy until now to give the time of day to a tawdry GIN ripoff?

In any case, it appears that the bad blood between Joe and Peter -- resulting
from some of those 2009 incidents surrounding their breakup -- is all washed away. (In the original version of the "Escaping Russia" post to which I linked in the previous sentence, Joe slammed Peter without actually mentioning his name. A little later he softened the spin somewhat, but he was still clearly talking about Peter, and mentions of Peter still appear in some of the older comments. And Peter himself, in 2011, called Joe's blog post "silly." There was also quite a discussion on my blog about the Joe-and-Peter split (this was from back in the day when Peter and I were frenemies).)

I have to wonder what Joe is thinking about the latest developments in the Kevin Trudeau saga -- you know, that whole
incarceration thing. After all, in those heady pre-GIN days and during GIN's launch, Joe was quite the champion for Katie and defended the latter's utter "fearlessness" in the face of government agents and naysayers alike. (Here are some purty pictures commemorating that touching friendship.)

But I digress -- an occupational hazard on this beat. Peter and Joe did get a lot accomplished together, back in the day. Word has it that Peter was behind Joe's decision a few years ago to take his Miracles Coaching flopportunity to the Utah boiler room Prosper Learning. And years before that, Peter, while still working at Nightingale-Conant, famously persuaded N/C to publish their first Vitale product, an audio set called The Power of Outrageous Marketing... and the rest is hustledork history. (It seems clear that however Peter felt about the breakup (and word has it that he was a little bitter for a while), Joe was miffed at Peter for a time, because even though in the past he had lavishly praised Peter for the N/C debut, in a post he wrote about six months after their split, he utterly failed to mention Peter's name -- even though in that very same post he said that N/C was a huge turning point in his career.)

Well, past bad blood or not, it's really only fitting that Peter would find a way to bring Joe into his newest scams. The circle remains unbroken. All is right with the world. Or at least with Scamworld.

I have to wonder just how involved Joe will get with IMBS-ing U: will this just be a one-time thing, or an experiment to see how it goes? Or will Joe be a regular beneficiary of the IMBS-ing U scam?

And what might Joe's wife Nerissa think about Joe being involved with an organization whose other Supreme Founder (and owner of the IBMS brand) is Loony Coldwell? I like Nerissa, at least from what I know of her on Facebook. She and I are in agreement about a number of social and political issues. Most importantly, Nerissa seems to be quite sensitive to disrespect for and exploitation of women -- and
Loony Coldwell is the poster child for all of the above.

And will Loony overtly slam Joe for Joe's Law of Attraction magickal thinking obsession? After all, Loony has said LOA is a hoax.

 

But maybe that's moot for now. I know that y'all are probably pretty excited about this call, so let me give you that call-in info again.

Featured Guest: Joe Vitale
Topic: The Secret to Attracting Money Now
Date: Tuesday, November 26th, 2013
Time: 6:00pm (Pacific), 8:00pm (Central), 9:00pm (Eastern)
Call-in Number: 1-805-399-1200
Access Code: 982755 (you need this to to access the live interview)

But remember: Be sure to call in at least ten minutes early so you can be screened and deleted because Joe is so gosh-darned popular.

And now, Dear Ones, I'm going to throw a damper on your excitement, because that's just the way I am (
I have a long history of being the wet blanket at the mystics' orgy). Are you ready? Brace yourself, because this is bad (or good, depending upon your perspective).

Turns out that if you want to listen to Mr. Fire try to hustle some money out of the IMBS-ers, and you are also a huge fan of
Scientist Bob Proctor, the elder statesman of the New-Wage industry and a frequent guest on this Whirled, you might have a little bit of a scheduling conflict. Ol' Bob, who first started throwing what is arguably his biggest fame ticket, The Secret, under the bus in 2008, is still -- five years later! -- flogging his "Eleven Forgotten Secrets" frauduct/flopportunity. At the moment I'm writing this, he is inviting "Abundance Enthusiasts Worldwide" to an absolutely free class that is the "Biggest Online Abundance Class in 2013."

And oh, my goodness, it starts on Tuesday, November 26, at 6 PM PST -- the very moment that the Peter and Joe show begins.

Oh, the agony, the agony! This is even worse than the fact that ABC's Revenge and CBS's The Good Wife currently play opposite each other on Sunday nights!
 
But all is not lost. Fortunately there will prolly be playback links for one or both events, as well as endless, endless additional flopportunities. So do not despair, my pretties. The circle jerk remains unbroken, because that's the New-Wage way. Buy and buy, Lord, buy and buy.

And in Scamworld, there are no neat and tidy endings. Some of us here on the Dark Side can even picture a day  when Kevin Trudeau and some of his former b.f.f.s and current enemies reunite in some way. After all, stranger things have happened, in Scamworld.

Have a stellar day, y'all!

PS ~ In other, related news: A friend of mine just saw a spot on CNN advertising a Piers Morgan interview with Secret star and convicted killer James Arthur Ray, who has been defended by Bob Proctor, Kevin Trudeau, and even Joe Vitale (in a lame way, shortly after the sweat lodge tragedy happened). The interview is scheduled for Monday night, November 25, 2013, at 9:00 pm EST (8:00 PM CST). I wonder if Piers will be as nice to JAR as his predecessor Larry King was in the heyday of The Secret. By all indications, at least on social media, the fans are sure giving this convicted killer a pass, according to this comment that came in to my October 8, 2013 post. 

PPS ~ Omri Shabat at Glancingweb weighs in hilariously, with wordplay and graphics, on the upcoming Peter-and-Joe show. A must-read.

Update, 27 November 2013: For those of you who missed the Joe and Peter show last night, here is the playback link. A friend of mine who knows both Joe and Peter all too well listened in and was amused by many things, such as the fact that Joe told the same old stories he always tells (he's quite the recycler); and the fact that Peter actually stunned Joe into silence towards the beginning by saying that JOE was the person who got Peter interested in personal development in the first place. Peter apparently said he owes everything to Joe.
 

Which is utter poppycock. Peter told me years ago (and it's on my blog, in my Conversations With Peter Wink series) that he had been a self-help and motivational junkie for years before he discovered Joe's work. But you know those Scamworld mutual master baiters -- they're always stroking each other with those on-the-fly lies.

My friend also said it was amusing at the end, when Joe hung up on Peter -- very audibly. Might be worth listening to the thing, at least the end, just for that.

And for those of you who have been wondering about the apparent disconnect between Peter pushing a Law of Attraction guru to the IMBS-ing U folks, and the fact that his Supreme Partner Loony C has ranted that LOA is a hoax, here's the IMBS-ing U mascot, Sarah Barendse, to explain it all:


It all sounds so calm and reasonable and rational (except for the part about how what a wonderful motivating force Joe is)... till you remember just how crazy Loony sounds when he rants in public against virtually anything and anyone who is not in sync with the flapdoodle he is pushing. Sarah notes that Peter has also said he doesn't believe in LOA. But for someone who doesn't believe, Peter sure was flogging some LOA CDs from Abraham-Hicks a few years ago. This blog post is from October 2009, around the time Peter started working for Kevin Trudeau. Wrote Peter: "I like these CDs so much, I'm going through them for the third time and applying what I've been learning." Good going, Peter -- getting advice from a crackpot who channels imaginary friends.

By the way, the purpose of the call was to push a $199 bundle of recycled junk from Joe that includes a "free" Miracles Coaching call -- which of course is a trap to get your personal info and financial profile so the boiler-room predators in Utah can try to upsell you.


Alas, it sounded as if not many people were on the call, according to my friend, who noted that back in the day (just a few years ago), Joe could attract more than 4,000 people at a time on a single call. Nobody's callin'... how the mighty have fallen.

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Now more than ever, your donation is needed
to help keep this Whirled spinning.
Click here to donate via PayPal or debit/credit card.
If that link doesn't work, send PayPal payment directly to

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cosmic.connie@juno.com
If PayPal, be sure to specify that your contribution is a gift. Thank you!